Affected products

Air Exchangers sold under different brands

Product description

This recall involves air exchangers with and without heat recovery sold under different brands that are used to circulate air in and out of the home. The metal air exchangers are painted blue or grey.

Air exchangers included in this recall were manufactured from January 2002 through July 2009 and have brand and model information printed on the unit's rating plate or imprinted on the side of the unit.

The following brand names and model numbers are included in the recall:

Hazard identified

The motor in the air exchangers can overheat, posing a fire hazard to consumers.

Venmar Ventilation has received 4 reports in relation to this recall expansion (1 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada). In the previous recalls, Venmar Ventilation reported 26 incidents, for a total of 30. Out of these 30 incidents, 5 took place in the U.S. and 25 took place in Canada. All incidents resulted in fires and in a total of more than $1.1 million in property damages. No injuries have been reported.

Health Canada has not received any confirmed reports of consumer incidents or injuries related to the use of these products.

Number sold

Approximately 207,000 units were sold in Canada and are targeted by this expansion of the recall. Approximately 108,000 units were sold in the United States.

Time period sold

The units were sold from January 2002 through December 2009 by heating, plumbing and building supply distributors nationwide.

Place of origin

Manufactured in Canada.

Companies

What you should do

Venmar is asking owners of units covered by this Safety Upgrade Program to immediately turn their unit off, and contact Venmar Ventilation Inc. as soon as possible by telephone at 1-866-441-4645, by visiting Venmar's website, or by mail at SUP-2006 Program, 550 Lemire Boulevard, Drummondville, Quebec, Canada, J2C 7W9.

Venmar will either send the consumers a current-limiting adapter device free of charge or, in the few cases with some specific models, Venmar will arrange to send a service technician to install the safety upgrade device free of charge.

To stop the operation of your unit, you simply need to unplug it to turn it off; if your unit is not equipped with a power cord, you must set your wall control in 'off' position. If necessary please visit the Venmar website, under the 'Safety Upgrade Program' section, and refer to the 'What to do' item of the 2006 SUP program to find out what to do to turn it off.

Please note that the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act prohibits recalled products from being redistributed, sold or even given away in Canada.

Health Canada would like to remind Canadians to report any health or safety incidents related to the use of this product or any other consumer product or cosmetic by filling out the Consumer Product Incident Report Form.